At a signing ceremony in Wausau on Tuesday (June 20), Gov. Evers signed two bills with significant effects on K-12 schools into law as 2023 Wisconsin Acts 11 and 12. These new laws on education funding and shared revenue are part of a deal Gov. Evers reached with Republican legislative leaders and are described below. That deal has been touted as pumping an additional $1 billion into K-12 public education in the next two years, while also boosting per pupil payments to private schools participating in the state’s voucher programs.
This blog post describes changes made by the first of these new acts. The changes made by the second new law will be covered in a separate blog post.
Act 11: Education Funding
Senate Bill 330, now 2023 Act 11, provides an increase in the low revenue ceiling. Under current law, the low revenue ceiling is set at $10,000 for the 2020-21 school year and each school year thereafter. This new law increases the low revenue ceiling to $11,000 for the 2023-24 school year and each school year thereafter.
Under the low revenue ceiling adjustment, if the sum of a district’s base revenue per pupil and the per pupil adjustment is below a statutorily-specified amount ($10,000 per pupil in 2022-23 and $11,000 in 2023-24 and each year thereafter), the district may increase its revenues up to that amount. However, a significant limitation on the use of the low revenue ceiling was not removed from current law. That limitation will prevent at least 28 school districts in which a revenue limit referendum has failed from benefiting from this new change.
The limitation provides that if the voters in a district reject an operating referendum, the district’s low revenue ceiling amount remains at the amount for the school year during which the referendum was held for the three following school years. If the voters in such a district subsequently approve an operating referendum during the three-year period, the district’s low revenue adjustment amount is set at the amount that applies beginning in the school year after the referendum was held.
A school district that is eligible for the low revenue ceiling adjustment is not required to levy for the additional amount that the adjustment provides, this is discretionary. In other words, a school board may opt to underlevy (i.e., levy less than its allowed maximum levy). However, if a school board does make use of the low revenue ceiling adjustment, that revenue authority becomes part of the district’s base revenue for the following school year.
This new law also makes a number of changes that will substantially increase the per pupil payments to private schools that participate in the state’s three voucher programs as well as to independent charter schools.
The nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau, estimates these increases would translate into the following additional per pupil aid amounts for private voucher schools, independent charters and private schools participating in the Special Needs Scholarship Program over current law in the 2023-24 and 2024-25 school years:
- For pupils enrolled in kindergarten to grade eight in the Milwaukee, Racine and statewide voucher programs, current law provided a per pupil payment of $8,399 in 2022-23. That amount rises to $9,874 In 2023-24 and to $10,271 in 2024-25, a total increase of $1,872 (22.3%) above the current level.
- For pupils enrolled in grades nine to twelve in the Milwaukee, Racine and statewide voucher programs, current law provided a per pupil payment of $9,045 in 2022-23. That amount rises to $12,362 In 2023-24 and to $12,765 in 2024-25, a total increase of $3,729 (41.1%) above the current level.
- For pupils enrolled in independent charter schools, current law provided a per pupil payment of $9,264 in 2022-23. That amount rises to $11,366 In 2023-24 and to $11,763 in 2024-25, a total increase of $2,499 (27.0%) above the current level.
- For pupils enrolled in the Special Needs Scholarship Program, current law provided a per pupil payment of $13,076 in 2022-23. That amount rises to $15,046 In 2023-24 and to $15,443 in 2024-25, a total increase of $2,367 (18.1%) above the current level.
